Shadows of the Past
by Morianna Phoenix
Summary: Glinda is not the perfect stereotypical teenage girl, nor is her life even close to perfect. When someone at Shiz discovers her darkest secret and threatens to reveal it, Glinda could loose everything and everyone she loves. Gelphie bookverse
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I realize that Galinda's actions may seem totally uncalled for, given only the information that is presented in this chapter, which I know is rather short, but it's more of a prologue so please bear with me. It will eventually make perfect sense and won't seem like such an overreaction. Thanks. Morianna Phoenix**

Chapter One

It was a Friday night and most of Crage Hall's freshmen socialites were out at parties. One of the most notable of these students was absent however. Instead of accepting any of the dozens of invitations she had gotten, Galinda Arduenna had rushed out of the dining hall directly after supper and hidden herself away in her room. She sat with her back against the headboard and her knees hugged to her chest. Her head was lowered, her neck and shoulders hunched, as if under a great weight. Sparkling tears like liquid diamonds fell down her blush-reddened cheeks. She stared blankly at the off-white wall on the other side of the room for a minute. Then she clenched her eyes shut and bit her lower lip in an attempt to hold back the sobs that were trying to snake their way out of her chest, up to her throat. She bit her lip until it almost bled. Finally the sobs forced their way out of her, wracking her tiny frame, making her shoulders shake.

As she cried the same thoughts ran in circles through her head. The same memories replayed themselves.

_She was thirteen. All the boys already flirted with her. She liked the attention, but she didn't really like the boys. She kept trying to tell herself that she didn't like them because, while they were nice enough, they just weren't up to her standards. There was a part of her mind that would whisper, 'It's not that they don't meet your standards. It's that your standards don't and can't apply to them, not when one of your standards is that they be-'. And at that point, she would smother the voice in the back of he head and tell it to keep quiet._

_She was fourteen and she had learned how to flirt back with all the boys who poured attention on her. She also found her own attentions wandering. She found that it was not as easy to ignore the voice in the back of her head anymore, the one that kept telling her something about herself that she didn't want to hear. She certainly could keep herself from acting on her impulses though. No matter how much of an act life seemed to be, she resolutely kept that part of her under lock and key, away from the rest of the world, especially her parents._

_She was fifteen and in her third year at a private, newly-all-girls secondary boarding school. There were no more boys to flirt with. No more way to drown out the voice or the impulses. No more parents to hide from because they thought she was old enough that they stopped visiting the school on weekends. There was one particular girl on her floor of the dormitory building who caught her attention. Her name was Aura. She was beautiful, gorgeous even. And she liked Galinda the same way Galinda liked her._

_She was sixteen and she had just gotten a letter from her parents, informing her that they were pulling her out of school. She stood with the letter in her hand and her eyes filled with unshed tears of shame and sorrow. "Won't you miss me Aura?"_

"_Of course I'll miss you. You've been my dorm-mate for three years. You're my best friend." The word 'friend' had never stung so much._

"_Is that all I am," Galinda asked, the tears threatening to fall at any second, her voice shaky._

_Aura sighed and pushed a stray wisp of her wild red hair away from her face. "Yes, Galinda. A good friend and maybe I'd even call you a 'friend with benefits', but you're just a friend." She had gone home with a broken heart. Her parents got her a private tutor and she was home-schooled for the remainder of the year. They also hired a woman to be her Ama, to chaperone her when she was out with her friends. Her father had told her quite firmly that he would have none of that nonsense, not from his daughter. And he had only allowed her to attend Shiz on the assumption that she would be under the strictest supervision of Ama Clutch._

Here she was now, seventeen and at University. She had a little bit of freedom now, for the first and probably last time in her life. She had the closest friendship she'd ever built in her life, one of the precious few that were not built by the social ladder. And now she risked loosing that friendship along with a great deal of her freedom. If anyone found out she'd 'relapsed', Ama Clutch would once more be looking over her shoulder at all times. And if her parents found out, oh there'd be hell to pay. She would possibly even be disowned. When she started to think of what might happen to her if her secret was told, she decided it would be better to drown herself in the bathtub. Why not? It was a large bathtub and she was very small. It wouldn't be easy to accomplish, but it was possible. These thoughts turned her sobs into wails of emotional agony.

She got up and made her way to the bathroom, slowly turning the doorknob, and pushing the door open, not bothering to close it behind her. She took off her dress and stood only in her slip, her now-bare feet cold on the tile floor. As if in a trance, she turned on the water in the bathtub to a very comfortable temperature. 'That way the water will be easy to just slip into. My head will go under and I won't even care. No! No,' she told herself, 'don't think like that! You don't really want to die! Do you? I don't know what I want. I want it to stop hurting.' She felt like she was already drowning. She fell on the floor in a heap, too weak to move. 'Maybe it really would be better that way.' This was her last coherent thought before she became too faint to think at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

As she made her way up to the third floor, Elphaba thought about what she would do to keep herself entertained. Over the past few months, she had become accustomed to spending her evenings debating, chatting, or just sharing quiet company with Galinda. Tonight was the Friday night before a three-day weekend however, so her roommate was likely to be at some party or another. 'I suppose I can work on the extra credit assignment for Sorcery class.' She then began contemplating which spell she would analyze in her essay. Lost in thought, it was not until she had rounded the corner and was halfway down the hall to her room that she heard the sound of someone crying. A few footsteps later, she realized the sound was coming from her room. Immediately she quickened her pace and a moment later she was standing in front of the door. Since she was much closer now, could hear that Galinda wasn't merely crying. There was a pain so apparent and intense in her weeping. It made Elphaba wonder what in Oz could have happened. When she discovered that the door was locked, she became even further alarmed. Something was terribly wrong with Galinda. She just knew it. She swore audibly as she rummaged through her bag to find the key. At last having found it, she unlocked the door and threw it open.

She dropped all her belongings by the desk and followed the sound to the bathroom were she was met with an odd, yet frighteningly familiar scene. Galinda had collapsed on the floor, sobbing and the bathtub faucet was turned on. 'What the hell is going on?' She asked herself. Then suddenly, as if by force, an image from a long time ago replaced the one in front of her eyes.

_Elphaba was six. Nessa was only a toddler. She had never known their mother to be any way other than the way she was. But Elphaba had. She could remember when her mother had sometimes been happy. That had been before Nessa was born. After the younger of the two sisters was born, Melena had fallen into a deep and constant depression._

_It was a summer day. The sun was bright and the sky was clear. There was a warm, gentle breeze in the air. Frex had brought Nessa with him when he went for a walk. Little Elphie was outside in the garden. She rushed inside however, her face lit up, to show her mother the new bauble she had just been given. "Mama, Mama," she shouted with glee, "look what Turtle Heart made me!" She looked through the entire house for her mother. When she finally found her, the six-year-old's joyful smile vanished and she dropped the glass toy on the stone floor, where it shattered into a thousand pieces. She stared at the sight before her. Her mother lay in the bathtub, unconscious, and the water was blood red. Elphaba screamed. A minute later, Turtle Heart was there, pulling Melena out of the bathtub and binding the wounds on her wrists. Though her mother had survived that day, the little girl had never forgotten the image of her mother lying in the bathtub full of blood-tainted water with a razorblade a few inches away on the floor._

Elphaba shook her head to banish the memory and quickly surveyed the room, noticing that Galinda's shaving kit was open on the side of the sink and her razor had been removed from the pink bag. Her heart was beating an hundred miles per hour in fear as she swooped down to pick her hysteric friend up from the floor. The blond girl didn't seem to notice that she had been picked up at all. The first thing Elphaba did was to check her wrists, which were blessedly unmarred. Under her breath, she muttered the closest thing she had ever managed to a real prayer to the Unnamed God.

It wasn't until Elphaba had placed the other girl on her fluffy, pink bed that it registered in Galinda's mind that someone else was in the room. Fighting away the trance-like state of unawareness, the smaller girl looked through a cascade of tears to see who was sitting next to her. Her vision was distorted and it took her a moment of blinking furiously to be able to see anything more distinct than the colors green and black. "Elphie!" The name was not so much spoken as it was whimpered.

The green girl wrapped her arms around her best friend and rocked her back and forth as she would a little child. "Shh, it's okay. Everything will be okay. I promise," she told the blond girl. She didn't ask what had happened, she didn't really dare to ask anything at all yet. She just kept repeating that everything would be okay. Galinda clung to her and sobbed onto her shoulder. The tears that soaked through Elphaba's shirt burned her skin, but she endured it and for the most part ignored the pain. Finally after about an hour she found that her friend had all but stopped crying and that the poor girl was shivering violently. It was then that Elphaba realized four things. It was nine o'clock at night, it was winter, there was no fire burning in the fireplace, and Galinda was only wearing her slip. No wonder she was freezing. "Galinda, just stay right here. I'm going to get you a nightgown to put on and then I'm going to light the fireplace. Okay?" Galinda nodded silently and relinquished her grip on Elphaba's arm.

After getting up, Elphaba realized that the water in the bathtub was still running. She went in and turned it off, thankful that Galinda hadn't put the plug in the bottom. Otherwise it would have overflowed and flooded the bathroom. She put Galinda's dress in the laundry basket and then went back out into the room. A few minutes later a warm fire was crackling in the fireplace and Galinda was putting on her nightgown.

"Are you feeling better now," Elphaba asked, hoping her friend was now calmed down sufficiently enough to go to sleep.

"Yah," Galinda replied very quietly and meekly.

Without a knock, the door between their room and Nessarose's opened and Nessa wheeled herself in. "I just came to say goodnight Elphaba," she explained, glancing at Galinda coldly out of the corner of her eye.

"Goodnight, Nessa," Elphaba dutifully said.

"Goodnight, I'll continue to pray for your soul, Fabala. As for you-" she sent a glare in the blonde's direction, "Your soul isn't worth saving, so I won't waste my breath." With that declaration she wheeled herself out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her. For a few seconds, Elphaba just stared in shock at the closed door. She was used to her little sister's religious comments and criticism, but she had never heard Nessarose be as cruel to anyone about it as she had just been to Galinda. She couldn't fathom what had warranted it. Looking over at her roommate, she saw that Galinda's eyes were full of tears again.

"Oh, don't cry again, Galinda," Elphaba said kindly as she returned to sit next to her friend. "I really have no idea why Nessa was so rude, but I'm very, very sorry."

"It's okay," Galinda told her despondently. "It's not your fault."

"I know that, but I still want to apologize. I think I'll have a talk with her about what just ha-"

"No!" Galinda shouted before hushing her voice almost into a whisper. "I mean no, you don't need to do that. I don't want to cause a fight between you and your sister." Seeing that this conversation would only make the other girl cry again, Elphaba let the matter drop.

"Why don't we just go to sleep," she suggested. Galinda nodded silently. She pulled back the covers on her bed and crawled under them. Still a bit lost in her own thoughts, she was surprised to look up and see that Elphaba had taken the blankets from her hands and was tucking her in, the way her mother used to when she was little. "Try to rest. You've obviously had a very rough day. Fresh dreams, Galinda."

"Fresh dreams, Elphie," Galinda replied, closing her eyes. She heard the lamp on the nightstand table click off. Her eyes suddenly flew open again though when she felt her best friend place a gentle kiss on her forehead.

Elphaba crawled into her own bed, not having seen Galinda open her eyes again. She waited until she heard the other girl's slow, steady breathing and was sure she was asleep before opening the draw of their nightstand and removing from it an emerald glass sphere. She stared into it, letting her mind unfocus, letting her thoughts slip away. This was an attempt to help herself fall asleep and fall asleep she did. However the sleep she fell into was one of prophetic dreams.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: In this story, Nessa is in the same year of school as Elphaba. She started school two years earlier instead of one. I'm probably going to say that she skiped a grade or went to an unconventional highschool, allowing her to graduate early. Also, latter in life, Nessa actually gets married. I'm not sure of the circumstances surrounding that yet. Any suggestions for what you want to see happen in the story are welcome.**

Chapter Three

Elphaba's dream:

_The first thing she took in, while looking around her dreamworld was the scenery. It was completely unfamiliar to her, and yet to her dreamself it was as familiar as if it were home. No, she corrected herself, according to her dreamself, it was home. It was a castle in the middle of …of where? The Vinkus, and it's called Kiamo Ko, her dreamself supplied. Her dreamself was sitting down outside, which was rare. There were several other people in the dream. One of them was Nanny. She was sitting right next to Dream-Elphaba. The real Elphaba realized it would be easier to watch the dream from the perspective of one of its 'characters', so she floated over to her dreamself and soon was a player in the performance._

"_Mother," a voice called excitedly from somewhere behind her. She turned her neck to see a young teenage boy, perhaps twelve or thirteen, running up the path to the castle. "Mother, he announced, "The usual caravan has stopped. Somebody's getting off here."_

"_Well who is it then," Elphaba snapped at her son._

"_She talking to Thea right now. She told us her name is Nessarose and that-"_

"_She's your cousin," Elphaba explained. "I sent for her to come live here after her mother died. I didn't want any mutinous Munchkinlanders to try to kill the poor child. What a poor thing indeed to have been raised by Nessa. And I thought being raised by Frex was bad enough! The girl's head is probably filled with ridiculous religious nonsense." Here she paused her rant and sighed. "Oh well, I suppose we can always try to reverse that." She picked herself up, off the ground and gave Nanny a hand up as well. Then she followed her son down the path._

_At the bottom of the hill, there stood three girls. Actually two of them are legally adults, her dream-mind informed her. "Theadora, Melena, why are you giving your cousin the inquisition? I thought I told you that you could ask her all you wanted about current affairs and what-have-you after she had settled in." Her tone with these girls was not as impatient or intolerant as it had been with Liir._

"_We're sorry, Mother," Melena said politely. "I just wanted to hear something, anything interesting about the world. It gets so boring here sometimes, with only my own siblings and Chistery for company."_

_Elphaba shook her head. Melena was exactly like her mother. Well not Elphaba, obviously, her other mother. "You are forgiven. Come on all of you, it's going to rain and I don't want to be caught out in it. And neither do you, Thea, so help your cousin with her bags and let's start walking." With no complaint Theadora, whose skin was the palest of greens, picked up one of her cousin's four bags and handed one to each of her siblings. With each of the children carrying a bag, they made their way up to the castle._

_Once there, Nanny cooked them all a satisfying dinner, which they all ate, as a family. It was unusual that Elphaba would eat dinner with her family. She usually ran on a very odd schedule or no schedule at all, so she might be sleeping in the afternoon and having dinner at breakfast. She took this rare opportunity to watch all of her children together. Theadora, the eldest essentially looked exactly like Elphaba. She had pale green skin, long, thick, black hair, Elphaba's stature and build, but her eyes were a sparkling royal blue. They reminded her of someone, but she couldn't think of whom. Liir was much younger than his sisters, possibly a decade younger. He had dark, brown hair, green eyes, and tan skin. She could see nothing of herself in the boy, though she could see that he might someday grow into some of her features. 'Like my nose," she thought. Melena though was a puzzle to the real Elphaba –whereas the dream-Elphaba wasn't confused at all. She looked nothing like her mother or either of her siblings, except for the royal blue eyes she and her twin shared. She was petite, though not incredibly so. Her skin was a completely normal, non-exotic peach color. Her hair was a headdress of golden curls. Oddly enough, she looked exactly like Galinda. Suddenly she realized that was why she recognized the twins' eyes. Galinda._

Galinda's dream:

"_Can you believe we've gotten away with this for over a year now," Aura asked, an almost proud smile on her face._

"_Barely," Galinda answered, "But at least now I worry myself with paranoia over whether or not you're seeing someone else behind my back instead of worrying about whether someone is watching us behind our backs."_

"_Are you really that insecure?" Aura questioned. "You're always so curious about what I do when I'm not with you."_

"_I guess I'm insecurious," she replied with a giggle. This sent the red-head into a fit of laughter._

"_Linda, 'insecurious' isn't a real word."_

"_So," the blond said with a pout. Aura laughed again and kissed her._

_Unbeknownst to either of the seniors, who were sitting in a secluded garden on a stone bench, there was someone watching them. And she had seen and heard everything. Shocked, the brown-haired girl ran off to write a letter to her sister, who still lived at home._

_A month later, Galinda was tearfully bidding all her friends a final farewell. As she was turning to go, a student named Shaina, who had brown hair and brown eyes stepped infront of her. "Miss Galinda, before you go, I feel I owe you an apology, a huge one."_

"_And why is that, Miss Shaina," Galinda inquired a little coldly in an attempt to mask the fact that she was on the verge of breaking down._

"_Because it's my fault that you're going home," the girl confessed._

"_What?" The heartbroken blonde girl could hardly believe what she was hearing._

"_I saw you and Miss Aura in the garden once. I was shocked and wanted to confide in someone I could trust. I wrote a letter to my sister, who lives with our parents, near your own home. I should have known better. I should have known my sister would tell our parents, who obviously mentioned it to your parents. I'm so sorry." Before Galinda gave herself the opportunity to curse at the other girl and probably become hysterical, she spun on her heels and boarded her carriage. She never looked back for fear she would fall apart._

_Suddenly the dream shifted away from all the negative things and she found herself in the midst of a very pleasant dream. She and Elphie were standing together on a balcony in a gigantic palace. Elphie had her arms wrapped around Galinda, holding her close._

"_I never would have thought that whatever power there is would deem it fair to give me a happily ever after," Elphie said softly._

"_Well you have it anyway, love," Galinda said with a lugh as she reached up to kiss her lover tenderly on the lips._

"_If I wanted to be cynical, I'd say it's too good to be true, but it seems that for once in my life cynicism doesn't suite me," the emerald-skinned woman joked, "Because it is true and now you and I are free to finish growing old together."_

"_We're not that old, Elphie," the petite woman protested, "We're only fifty one."_

"_I suppose that's true. You know, why don't we go see how Candle and the baby are doing?" then Elphie took her hand and led her through several rooms until they reached their destination. Lying on the bed was a pretty, young Quadling woman, their daughter in law. A young man, who had emerald green eyes and Elphie's nose, but who otherwise reminded her of Fiyero sat beside his wife on the bed. In her arms, Candle held their newborn baby daughter._

"_Did you pick her name yet, Liir," Galinda asked._

"_Yes, Glinda, we did."_

"_Well what is it?" This question came from Elphaba, who was very eager to know the name of her first grandchild._

"_We named her Fae, after you, Mother, but sort-of after my father too, since he was the one who called you that." Galinda saw Elphie smile in approval and then the image faded from her sight, but her memory stored it safely away to be looked at later._

While Elphaba and Galinda slept, each in their own dreamworld, the younger of the two Thropp sisters was tossing and turning, unable to sleep. What with the devastating discovery of the previous morning and the scandalous accusation of this afternoon, it was no small wonder that the pious Nessarose lay awake worring over the safety of her sister's soul.

(THE PREVIOUS MORNING)

Nessarose wheeled herself into the room adjacent to hers with the intention of making sure that her sister's roommate was up and moving. Elphaba was already at the library, of course, getting a head start on next week's homework before class started. Galinda however was known to oversleep if no one woke her up. Sure enough, when Nessa entered the room, Galinda was still fast asleep.

Maneuvering her wheelchair between the two beds, she reached over to shake the blonde girl awake, when she noticed something on the floor next to the girl's bed. It was a pick, fluffy diary. Normally, Nessarose would have simply picked the book up, closed it, and put it away, but the page clearly had her sister's name written on it. She wanted to know what Galinda was saying about Elphaba. She hoped it wasn't anything bad. Reaching over very carefully, she picked the book up off the floor and laid it in her lap. She quickly scanned the page, only reading the part about her sister. When she read a particular sentence however, she gasped in horror. By the time she had finished reading the page, she was blushing with indigence and anger. She felt completely mortified and could not believe what she had just read. It absolutely sickened her. She threw the book down on the floor in disgust and hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Seething, she waited for the other girl to make herself appear decent before returning to the room. She knew that the noise the door had made had certainly woken her up.

Twenty minutes later, she reentered the room and waited silently for Galinda to notice her. When the blonde girl, who was finishing up her make up, saw Nessarose's reflection in the mirror atop her vanity, she turned around and began to greet her cheerfully. She fell silent however when she saw Nessarose's icy expression. "Miss Nessa, what-"

"Don't speak to me as if I am your friend, Miss Galinda," the girl in the wheelchair ordered, obvious distaste in her tone. "I saw what you wrote about my sister in your journal, you heathen, sinful, wench. How dare you! How dare you claim to be in love with my sister? No woman can love another woman in that manner. And you have the audacity to not even be ashamed of your sin! I shall warn Elphaba about your evil ways." Nessa condemned her in a tone of fiery contempt that the terrified Galinda had not even known the other girl could use, "Be it upon your own soul to burn in hell for your sins, but for the love of the Unnamed God, don't you dare drag my sister down with you." Then she had disappeared from the room, leaving Galinda trembling and in tears.

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**The next chapter should be posted the day after tomorrow at minimum and in one week at max. (That is assuming my teachers don't throw a bunch of homework at me to make up for all of us having been on winter holiday.)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Galinda wasn't crying because she had felt shamed by Nessarose's words. She was crying a little in shock over how cruel Nessa had been and little in fear of what might happen if Nessa told anyone other than Elphie. She wasn't too worried about what Elphie herself might think. She wasn't anything like Nessarose when it came to prejudice. She only hoped that Elphie would at least consider returning her affections, even though the chances of that were slim. She went into the bathroom and washed the now tear-ruined make-up from her face and then quickly dried her face and reapplied her make-up. She finished this with just enough time left to get to Art class without being late. As she walked along her normal route of getting to class, she let her mind wander. She thought about Aura and how she had thought she had been in love with Aura. She thought about how Aura had broken her heart. She had long since realized that she had never really been as in love with the red-head as she had once thought. Then she thought about what she felt for Elphie. It was so much stronger than what she had felt for Aura. She _knew_ she was in love with Elphie. She knew it for reasons that could not be put in words, but the feeling was so intense that sometimes it scared her.

The feelings themselves didn't scare her though, and she wasn't ashamed of them either. She wished that her parents and "proper society" did not condemn her. She didn't feel guilty or ashamed because she liked other women and had no interest of that kind in men. She just became so very sad sometimes that what she felt to be so right was said to be so wrong. 'Love is love,' she thought to herself as she took her seat in Art class, 'I wish _other_ people could see it that way.' Taking out her sketchbook and colored pencils, Galinda absentmindedly began the day's classwork assignment, a portrait. She didn't really pay attention to what she was drawing, but rather let her thoughts linger on her roommate.

Meanwhile, Elphaba, whose first class was not until ten, was in the library, looking through dozens of books. After she had skimmed the twenty-seventh book and found nothing, she slammed it shut and threw her hands up in the air, in a gesture of frustration and defeat. "I just don't understand! There is supposed to be a scientific explanation for everything," she exclaimed, not caring that she was loud. She knew that there were no other students in the library yet and the librarian had stepped out for a cup of coffee. The emerald-skinned seventeen-year-old stood up and began pacing back and forth in front of the table which she had taken over. "Nothing," she said, as if to the books and bookcases, "I must have looked through more than two dozen books and there is nothing in any of them that can define, explain, analyze, or name what I am feeling. I understand the physical part of it well enough. Lust is a simple, scientifically explainable occurrence caused by hormones in response to sensory stimuli." She paused for a moment, recalling the instances in which she had experienced lust, trying to find the link between her physical feelings and the frustrating, foreign emotions that had been accompanying them more and more often of late. She had already been through this thought process hundreds of times, of course, but she tried it one last time hoping that this time she would see the connection she was sure existed but which she was unable to identify. "If I could find out the connection between the physical sensations I experience and the emotions I feel, then maybe I could discover what these strange feelings are," she said much more quietly and in a pensive tone. Sighing, she sat back down at the desk and began to organize the books so that she could put them away. And it appeared she had ended her rather loud and aggravated tirade just in time too, because as she sat down the library door opened and the librarian returned.

Galinda was so lost in thought and so thoroughly engrossed in what she was doing that she only looked up when her professor called her name. The blond-haired girl looked up, a little startled to see that Professor Cindavi was the only other person in the room besides herself. "Miss Galinda," the woman said, "I see that you are very serious about finishing your pieces, but the class ended some fifteen minutes ago. I do not know your personal schedule, but if you have a class between now and lunch, I would advise you to hurry, or you shall be late." Professor Mahakala Cindavi, who was probably in her sixties, had long, grey hair which seemed always to be coming undone from its braid. She had warm amber eyes, a soft voice, a kind smile, and an enthusiasm for her subject. All in all, she was probably Galinda's favorite teacher.

"Oh, I'm sorry that I wasn't paying attention to the time," Galinda apologized with a twinge of embarrassment, "Thank you for warning me." She then hastily closed her sketchbook and put away it as well as her colored pencils in her bag. Then, with a hurried farewell to her professor, she rushed out of the Art room in the direction of her next class.

Fiyero entered the classroom a few seconds after the rest of the students, but managed to sneak through the door unnoticed and slipped into the seat next to Elphaba. To his dismay, she did not even seem to be aware of his arrival at all. She did not greet him. Instead, she was writing furiously –in a language and/or alphabet he couldn't decipher- in a leather-bound notebook. The normally scholarly girl continued her writing throughout the entire class, not answering a single question and not taking down a single line of notes. Fiyero was a little put out by the fact that Elphaba hadn't said a word to him, but more concerned by the fact that she had not participated in class at all.

"- at lunch?"

Elphaba closed her journal to notice Fiyero waiting for her while everyone else filed out of the classroom. She also realized he had just addressed her. "Could you please repeat that," she asked as politely as was possible without actually saying the word 'please'.

"I said, 'Do you want to sit with me at lunch?'" The vinkus prince reiterated.

"Sure," Elphaba replied, slinging her bag over her shoulder and heading for the door. "Why nor? I'm sure Galinda will be fine with it. I don't have to worry about Nessa. She and Boq are having lunch in the indoor Gardens."

"Boq?" Fiyero echoed her, confused.

"Yes. Boq," Elphaba repeated. Seeing the look on her newest friend's face, she said with a slight laugh, "What? Didn't anyone tell you? They're dating."

"But- but Boq is totally in love with Galinda," the boy sputtered.

Elphaba shrugged. "I don't care who he's in love with. He can date my sister as long as he doesn't break her heart." And that was the end of that conversation. Before long, the duo had reached the cafeteria, where they first got their lunches and then proceeded to search for Galinda. Seeing her at a corner table near the window, Elphaba led Fiyero through the clusters of tables and gossiping groups. Putting her tray down, she took the seat across from her roommate. Fiyero took the seat next to the blonde girl.

"How was your art class, Galinda," Fiyero asked with sincere interest.

"Fun," Galinda replied, "We had to draw portraits." Her answer was truthful so far.

"Who did you draw," Elphaba questioned between bites of her salad.

"My mother," the petite blonde lied, not wanting to admit that she had drawn a portrait of her roommate. A very detailed, nearly-perfect portrait. If she admitted that, it would point out the fact that she had memorized Elphie's features far more accurately than she was willing to confess. Fiyero sensed her unease and noted that both of his female friends were acting a little odd today. He changed the subject to something inconsequential and unobtrusive. Lunch went a little more smoothly after that.

Just a short while after Galinda, Elphaba, and Fiyero sat down for their lunch, Nessarose and Boq settled themselves at one of the several tables that were scattered –or rather, strategically placed- throughout the beautiful indoor garden. Boq, ever the gentleman had just returned from the cafeteria, carrying not only his lunch but Nessarose's as well. As they ate their lunches, they commented on the beauty of their surroundings. Eventually, Nessarose just let Boq speak and listened silently. A while later, Boq noticed that his new girlfriend was not really paying attention and that she was twisting a monogrammed handkerchief in her lap distractedly.

"What's wrong, Nessa?" Boq looked at her with concern. It was rare to see her so very distracted. He could tell that something was bothering her. At first, she cast her eyes to the ground. He repeated his question.

"What? Oh, nothing's wrong," she tried to lie with a false smile.

"No something is bothering you, Nessa," the Munchkin boy insisted, "I can tell."

Finally she threw her handkerchief down on the table and clasped her hands together anxiously. "Oh, Boq," she exclaimed, "It's horrible! It's absolutely horrible! My poor sister! I'm so worried for her!" Nessarose seemed truly distraught and Boq became alarmed.

"What's horrible? What happened to Elphaba? Is she hurt? Is she sick? Nessa, tell me what's wrong."

"No, no, no,' the girl in the wheelchair explained, "there's nothing wrong with _Elphaba_. Not yet anyway. But Galinda-" She had to stop for a moment to collect herself. "Galinda Arduenna, that sinful, wretched-" She simply couldn't continue.

"Nessarose," Boq prompted very calmly and evenly, "tell me what is upsetting you so much." Inwardly he was panicking. What the hell was going on? Why had Nessa spoken Galinda's name with such hatred? In his –somewhat biased- opinion, the Gilikinese girl couldn't have done anything as heinous as his girlfriend seemed to be implying.

Finally she calmed herself down and as sedately as possible, began to explain what she had read in Galinda's journal. "But you can't tell anyone." She swore him to secrecy, adding anxiously, "Not until I tell Elphaba. I don't want people to think her roommate has corrupted her. Turned her into a- a- oh, you know what I'm talking about."

Boq did know what she was talking about and thought she was being ridiculous. He almost told her so, but then remembered her strict religious beliefs and decided to remain silent. He was a bit disappointed to find out that Galinda didn't like men, since that sealed his failure to get her to love him. The more he thought about it though, the less disappointed he was. If he actually considered Nessa's fear that Elphaba might be 'corrupted', he would have to admit that it was entirely plausible. Furthermore, if there was anyone Elphaba had a crush on, it was likely to be Galinda. He left lunch with his mind made up. He would try to talk to Elphaba before her sister could and see what her take on the matter was. One thing was for sure. He was in for one very interesting study group.


End file.
